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Monday, June 4, 2012

Eye of the Tiger: ‘Rocky III’ Turns 30

People love a good comeback story. The public loves to see an underdog defy the
odds and rise to the top, only to sadistically relish in his downfall. Only then can he be cheered on as he gets off
the mat and back onto the saddle. After
all, can anyone truly relate to a hero who never loses? How boring is a champion who makes it to the
top only to coast for the rest of his career and retire undefeated? Surely, such a hero isn’t worthy of having
his own film franchise. Sylvester
Stallone certainly didn’t think so, hence how he treated his most beloved
cinematic creation. In Rocky III, the title character faced a
much more fearsome challenge than ever before.
That challenge made for one of the entertaining films of the 1980’s.

After defeating Apollo Creed (Carl
Weathers) in their rematch, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) becomes the
undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion.
Seemingly overnight, he goes from being a loveable underdog to an
American Icon. His face becomes
omnipresent in the media, and His lifestyle changes accordingly. By all
appearances, things couldn’t be going any better for him. Figuring that there is nothing left for him
to accomplish, Rocky publicly announces his retirement. At that very moment, a fearsome young
heavyweight named James "Clubber" Lang (Mr. T) suddenly emerges from
the crowd and accuses Balboa of dodging him.
Incensed, Balboa agrees to fight the hungry upstart.

Mickey (Burgess Meredith)
initially refuses to train Rocky, fearing that the champ has lost his hunger. He inevitably relents, only to have his fears
confirmed. Rocky treats his training as
a one huge party, neglecting to do the proper conditioning. Things get much worse on the night of the actual
match. During a pre-fight skirmish
between Rocky and Clubber, Mickey is sent into cardiac arrest. As Mickey lies dying, a woefully unprepared
Rocky loses horribly to Lang. Broken and
dispirited, Rocky becomes lost. Like a
guardian angel, Apollo Creed appears from the shadows to help him get the title
back. Can Balboa get out of his
self-pitying funk long enough to regain the “eye of the tiger?”

Rocky III represents the rebirth, or reinvention, of the Rocky franchise. The original was a serious sports drama that
earned its star academy award nominations for Best Actor and Best Original
Screenplay. It was an instant classic. The follow-up, written directed by Stallone
himself, was a boring rehash that allowed Rocky to finally obtain the goal that
eluded him the first time around: The heavyweight title. Rocky
III refashions the Rocky mythos into something a bit less prestigious, yet
far more entertaining.

Rocky III is more derivative than many remember it being upon
release. It borrowed from two prior hits
of a still young decade, both of them sequels.
The films in question are The
Empire Strikes Back and Superman II. The heroes of both have a lot in common with
Rocky Balboa as portrayed in Rocky III. Luke Skywalker, The hero of Empire, is overly sure of his untested
and underdeveloped abilities. He also
rebukes the teachings of his master, only to suffer a hard lesson as a result. In Superman
II, Superman eschews his responsibilities for earthly pleasures, going from
demigod to mere mortal and back again before the end credits role. Rocky
III takes all of the aforementioned elements and distills them into a
formula that it would milk from then on.
The resulting film is neither as dark as Empire, nor as campy or comedic as Superman II.

Rocky III is a film that, at its core, is about both iconography
and reinvention. From its very beginning,
Balboa is on top of the world and relishing in his glory. It’s clear that this will be a very different
kind of Rocky movie than either of its
predecessors. Bill Conti’s score is
gone, eschewed for Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.” The film opens with the closing moments of
Rocky II, but the opening titles are
immediately followed by a breathless montage that shows Rocky’s rise to glory. He coasts through one successful title
defense after another, and basks in his celebrity status. He’s no longer a marble-mouthed goon, but a well-manicured
spokesman for any number of products.

Rocky has a new adversary this
time out and he’s shown very early on, during that very same opening montage. James “Clubber” Lang, the number one
contender, seethes with anger while in attending one of Balboa’s fights. The rest of the world sees a hero, but Clubber
sees a poser. His scowl, physique (and
to some audience members, his very Blackness) automatically identify him as the
villain of the piece. His fashion
choices also suggest this. Mr. T brought
all of his trademark fashion accessories to bear. He sports his famous Mohawk, as well as
feathered earrings and a suede jacket.
Perhaps unintentionally, he looks like a racial caricature of an Indian
Brave. He is the “other,” an invader
into Rocky’s civilized world. He threatens
to bring anarchy. His sexual overture to
Adrian during the statue dedication brings Rocky III’s racial subtext bubbling
to the surface.

James "Clubber" Lang, the "Other," denoted by his Black skin and Native American style dress and accessories.

Mr. T was basically playing
himself in this film. It was, perhaps,
the world’s introduction to his unforgettable persona. He’s scary, yet not truly a monster. His hostile demeanor is mostly a tactic to
demoralize his opponents. If he’s guilty
of anything, it’s insatiable hunger and youthful arrogance. He is both stronger and more fearsome than
Apollo Creed. There is no fancy
showmanship to his boxing style. He’s
essentially, as Mickey says, “A wrecking machine.” Though he’s a fictional character, he
foreshadows the coming of “Iron” Mike Tyson.
He also has no respect for those who preceded him, as evidenced by his
rebuke of Apollo Creed’s handshake before his first match with Balboa.

The resulting rivalry between
Creed and Lang brings yet another racially charged element to the film: The
conflict between the field Negro and the House Negro. Lang is clearly the angry and resentful field
Negro. He has no respect for the old
ways, and in fact means to tear that paradigm down. By contrast, Creed is very much the
assimilated Black Man in terms of his public image. He sells himself as the living embodiment of
the American dream, employing Muhammad Ali’s penchant showmanship to this
purpose. Like Rocky, he sees Lang as an
affront to all he has worked for an achieved, to the point that he eventually teams
with Balboa to take down Lang.

Apollo even agrees to share with
Rocky that most coveted of boxing secrets: The Black Boxer’s inherent sense of
rhythm. Paulie hilariously points this
out in a single line of dialogue: “You can't train him like a colored fighter.
He ain't got no rhythm.” It might seem comical to look at the film in such serious
and racial terms, but such themes are definitely there. They are prominently featured during the
customary training montage, which shows Rocky training alongside Apollo in a
Black boxing gym. Balboa isn’t simply
getting in shape. He’s being reforged. Stallone’s musculature takes on a machine
like quality. There are many close-ups
of rippling quadriceps. Simple-minded
viewers will see this as homoerotic. Perceptive
ones will see it for what it is: Stallone’s fetishizes his own
physique, offering it as the very picture of human perfection. It represents the ultimate goal that both
Stallone and Balboa are shooting for.

It’s interesting that the amazing
new tools Rocky is given to work have very little to do with why he wins the
rematch. Rocky’s strategy does not
employ a Black boxer’s sense of rhythm and timing. It consists of toughness, resilience, and outright
stupidity. He lets the physically
stronger Lang punch himself out early in the fight. Pretty much all of Clubber’s devastating
blows land. Every punch is an earth-shattering
haymaker. It’s essentially a much more
dangerous and obvious version of Ali’s “Rope-a-Dope strategy.” Stallone obscures the silliness of the fight
with an exciting filmmaking style.

Released on May 28th,
1982, Rocky III became the highest
grossing film in the franchise up until that point. Much to the chagrin of film critics
everywhere, it proved Stallone’s storytelling instincts correct. Mr. T gave the franchise its greatest villain
to date. The character was much more
interesting than his cartoonish appearance initially suggested. The first Rocky
remains a classic sports drama. It’s
undoubtedly the best film of the series.
However, Rocky III is
undoubtedly the most entertaining. 30
years later, it’s hilariously dated, but no less effective. As an adult, I am able to go along for the
ride while still being conscious of the blatant manipulation at work. Only a truly special film could do that.

About Me

Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Scott Wilson, deep thinker and blogger extraordinaire. I'm also a published author and proud father. Last but certainly not least, I'm a single (IE Available), but I'm definitely looking to change that. My life is an ongoing work in progress, and I'm always looking to improve.